City gets 14 candidates for council vacancy

By Molly McGowan / Times-News

Published: Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at 05:50 PM.

■ Karen S. Johns was elected to the Town Council in Newmarket, New Hampshire in 1998 and filled that position through 2011. She was also a founding executive board member of the Alamance Republican Women of North Carolina, where she has also served as vice president and currently serves as its government legislative liaison.

OTHER CANDIDATES have experience serving on city committees or commissions, including those in the city of Burlington, or have established ties within the Burlington community.

■ Morris F. McAdoo has previously been appointed to Burlington’s Housing Commission and Traffic Commission and is an attorney.

■ Lonnie Graves is a former Burlington Fire Battalion Chief, a current part-time Alamance County EMS employee, and a member of the Alamance Community Service Board.

■ Coleman R. Rich is the current department chair for the Marketing and Entrepreneurship Department at Elon University’s Love School of Business, and is past president of the Burlington Jaycees, past member of The Rotary Club of Alamance County and is a member of Burlington’s Traffic Commission and on the board of the Burlington Downtown Corporation.

■ John Oakes has served in city council-appointed positions in Sebastian, Fla., including as member of the code enforcement board, charter review committee, planning & zoning board, and as a member, vice-chair and chairman of the budget review committee.

The Burlington City Council will begin reviewing the 14 letters of interest submitted for an open council seat, despite Councilman Bob Ward’s attempt to have the deadline for submittals delayed an extra 10 days.

In mid-January, councilmen agreed on a timeline to accept and review letters of interest to fill the council seat left vacant by Steve Ross’ appointment as state House representative, in accordance with the city’s vacant-seat policy.

The original submittal deadline was Monday – a day longer than the required 10, following a legal advertisement of the vacancy in the Times-News that ran two consecutive Thursdays in January.

The council planned to review the letters, personally interview three selected applicants during its March 4 work session, then vote on the new councilmember the next day at its regular meeting.

However, during Monday night’s work session, Ward said people had approached him and asked if only submissions from candidates who’d previously held an elected local government position would be given credence.

Ward said that meant there was a misconception and suggested the council extend the interest letter submittal deadline another 10 days.

“If anyone has been discouraged (to apply), I’d like to give them a window of opportunity,” he said.

Mayor Pro Tem David Huffman said those comments were directed at him, since he had mentioned considering “folks who have served in the past,” during a Jan. 15 meeting when Ronnie Wall encouraged councilmen to list criteria they’d consider when looking at applicants.

But, Huffman added, “I went through a litany of things that I thought was important,” including personal integrity, knowledge of Burlington’s issues and municipal government, and community activity.

After some back-and-forth, Huffman, Wall, and Councilman Celo Faucette agreed to keep the timeline as it stood.

THAT LIST INCLUDES several people who have served in an elected capacity before.

■ Jim Butler, who sat on Burlington’s City Council from 2007 to 2011, submitted a letter requesting his consideration “solely due to the fact that I have the most recent experience on City Council where other potential candidates will not and many of the initiatives that the existing Council is dealing with actually started during the end of my previous term.”

■ Karen S. Johns was elected to the Town Council in Newmarket, New Hampshire in 1998 and filled that position through 2011. She was also a founding executive board member of the Alamance Republican Women of North Carolina, where she has also served as vice president and currently serves as its government legislative liaison.

OTHER CANDIDATES have experience serving on city committees or commissions, including those in the city of Burlington, or have established ties within the Burlington community.

■ Morris F. McAdoo has previously been appointed to Burlington’s Housing Commission and Traffic Commission and is an attorney.

■ Lonnie Graves is a former Burlington Fire Battalion Chief, a current part-time Alamance County EMS employee, and a member of the Alamance Community Service Board.

■ Coleman R. Rich is the current department chair for the Marketing and Entrepreneurship Department at Elon University’s Love School of Business, and is past president of the Burlington Jaycees, past member of The Rotary Club of Alamance County and is a member of Burlington’s Traffic Commission and on the board of the Burlington Downtown Corporation.

■ John Oakes has served in city council-appointed positions in Sebastian, Fla., including as member of the code enforcement board, charter review committee, planning & zoning board, and as a member, vice-chair and chairman of the budget review committee.

■ Mark B. Hopp ran for Alamance County commissioner in 2012.

■ Charles A. Carter is the current chairman of Burlington’s Housing Authority board, and has served on a school board for four years.

■ Falecia Richmond McCaster is a small business owner in Burlington, and was one of the first to open a black hair salon in downtown Burlington.

■ Harold D. James is also a small business owner in east Burlington, but didn’t offer any additional information in his original letter of interest.

■ Mary C. Bozeman has run Mary’s Creative Play preschool in Burlington for 17 years. She is the past president of the Alamance County Committee on Civic Affairs, and is currently on Burlington’s Housing, Planning and Nursing Home advisory committees.

■ Steven J. Carter has held a 35-year banking career and currently serves on the local YMCA board, and is a member of The Rotary Club of Alamance County.

■ Charlie Sellars was an executive with a Fortune 500 company for 20 years, and opened his own company in 2006, and moved its office for the Piedmont area to Burlington.

■ Steve G. Deaton has a background in business and project management, and managed production projects for several local companies.